Scientific Illustration

compendium-of-beasts:

Aeneas rat (Didelphys dorsigera). (1905)

NYPL

heaveninawildflower:

Banded hare-wallabies of Bernier Island (1807). Charles-Alexandre Lesueur.

Source -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/7979792552/in/set-72157631519809640 via Wikimedia.

You’ve probably seen the same drawings of thylacines often, but in case you are interested, here are two more. I love how their mouths open so wide! :)

Thanks for the submission Danelle!

http://dwuff.deviantart.com/

Mutpuracinus archibaldi reconstruction – Art by Dr Peter Murray

“Mutpuracinus archibaldi was a small carnivorous marsupial from the Middle Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, Australia and Middle Miocene of Bullock Creek, Northern Territory, Australia. It is distantly related to the now extinct Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger, Thylacinus cynocephalus. Only 2 specimens of that species has been recovered, including a skull”

paleoillustration:

Diprotodon, meaning “two forward teeth”, sometimes known as the giant wombat or the rhinoceros wombat, is the largest known marsupial ever to have lived. (Wikipedia). Picture by Peter Trusler

Micoureus demerarae as Didelphis cinerea - the Woolly mouse opossum by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.

Biologia Centrali-Americana :.
[London :Published for the editors by R. H. Porter],1879-1915.
biodiversitylibrary.org/page/570910

sheerdarwinism:

The lesser bilby, Macrotis leucura, also known as the yallara, was a rabbit-like marsupial that inhabited central Australia. The last known sighting and live collection was in 1931, and the last ever found specimen was a skull located in a Wedge-tailed Eagle nest in 1967. It is believed extinct.

The cause of extinction is debated, with some theories including competition with rabbits for food, hunting by native Australians, and habitat degradation, but most evidence lists predation by introduced cats and foxes to be the main cause.

Its cousin, the Greater Bilby (inspiration for the Easter Bilby of Australia), is currently listed as vulnerable.

emilyfundis:

Wombat, graphite

2012

The thylacine - Thylacinus cynocephalus

The Tasmanian Tiger was hunted to extinction for hunting sheep but research has now show that thylacine jaws were too weak to kill sheep and its prey was probably not bigger than a possum.

Tasmanian Tiger’s Jaw Was Too Small to Attack Sheep, Study Shows

Skull mechanics and implications for feeding behaviour in a large marsupial carnivore guild: the thylacine, Tasmanian devil and spotted-tailed quoll. M.R.G. Attard, U. Chamoli, T.L. Ferrara, T.L. Rogers, S. Wroe. Journal of Zoology. Volume 285, Issue 4, pages 292–300, December 2011

Thylacinus cynocephalus - the thylacine